House of Paper: A Mother and Son's Journey
by Quick-n-Popular
Summary: AU. Torn away from each other due to a seemingly never ending war, a mother and her estranged son take different paths as the live their lives. However, when the paths cross due to a certain Bijuu, will it be a happy reunion?
1. A Mother's Decision

"House of Paper: A Mother and Son's Journey"

By Quick-n-Popular

Disclaimer: "Naruto" and its characters, with the exception of those I've created, are properties of Masashi Kishimoto and by no means will I ever claim them to be my own.

Spoiler Warning: Some of the information in this story should be considered spoiler material as a lot of it pertains to recent manga information. Consider yourselves forewarned.

Author's Note: This story has been an idea of mine for a long coming. Please do note that this is an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE and thus should not be interpreted as cannon material. Thus, there will be a lot of changes and many characters may appear to be OOC. So please, read and enjoy. Do, please, review after reading. I welcome all comments available.

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Chapter One: A Mother's Decision 

Konan never dreamed of ending up the way she did. Her whole life had been characterized by her association with those that she unwittingly trusted and had faith in. They were supposed to have changed the world, as they knew it, for a better one. Her, her two friends, Yahiko and Nagato; they were supposed to make it happen. They had it all in their sights, their dreams, and their ambition; erase the pain from the lives of everyone who had experienced the horrors that they too once had endured. Yet, it all became all for nothing.

Yahiko, their friend and leader, a man who was determined to become a sort of God in the eyes of everyone who followed him, selflessly sacrificed himself so that she, Konan, could live.

Yet he had another role, one unseen by the eyes of all those that had followed him, Nagato included; one that only pertained to Konan herself.

A lover.

However brief it had been, the two had shared a night together, one where all their guards and defenses had been lowered as they shared the comfort and unspoken love for each other.

Was it because of her admiration for his continuous strive for a better world for Ame and the neighboring shinobi nations? She wasn't sure nor could she think back far enough to find the moment where that spark was ignited. The end result was the two of them sharing private moments away from the horrors that was their existence in Ame and their ambition to change it all for good.

It had started with him coming over to her quarters and staying with her for long periods. They would stay up late discussing simpler things outside of their plans with the group for the reformation of Ame and the usurping of Salamander Hanzo from power. They talked about plans for the future for themselves and what they envisioned their lives would be. This led to them taking each other into embraces. It became more and more intimate as time passed until one night, a night Konan Hitogawa would never forget. What initiated it, however, was a horrible event where a failed recon unit ended up impaled and placed outside of Hanzo's fortress as a means to gloat and taunt Yahiko's group to try anything further against him.

Yahiko was a mess after hearing the news and then going to help recover the bodies and heads of his former fellow freedom fighters. It was late when he showed up at Konan's tent on the perimeter of their location. Little was said when he came in. He simply looked at her with a haunted expression and was quivering from head to toe.

Konan did the only thing she knew and gave him a reassuring hug. Yahiko, strong as he was, never let his emotions show on the outside and took the moment to bask in the moment of comfort. From there, he gave her a shaky kiss which was the catalyst for the evening as it soon gave encouragement to proceed forward to a more carnal move.

Like a flower blooming, what started from a moment of subtle comfort, became a move to intimacy and the two enveloped themselves into a blend of melding bodies and a maelstrom of kisses, removal of clothing, and intercorsal exercises.

Despite what caused the initiation, Konan would never forget that night as long as she lived. That night led to more of the same as the she and Yahiko found the private comfort and the act what they needed as a desirable distraction from the events that came to pass as the months went by.

Then, Konan's world fell apart.

Early, on a cold fall morning, she had found out from a medic they had, the reason as to why she had been experiencing sickness for the past several weeks. This news would have sent a person rocketing towards the moon and back, but to Konan it was a disaster in the making.

A child. She was going to be having a child in these troubling times.

Konan was confident that Yahiko, Nagato, and her dreams would be coming to fruition. But, no matter how much she had faith, she knew by the time she gave birth it would still be too far into the future and that this child would be born into a hell it didn't deserve.

However, Yahiko was of a different opinion. When Konan told him the news, thinking he would be of the same mind as herself, Yahiko surprised her as he started acting happier than ever than he had ever been as he started spurting off all the wonderful things the two of them having a child would bring and that the child itself was a sign that the tide would turn and Hanzo's reign was at an end. Konan didn't know what to think after that.

He told her that the two of them would keep the child a secret and reveal their offspring as soon as Yahiko's latest plan would bring them closer to defeating Hanzo's forces later this day.

That would be the last time the two of them could be together.

Later that day, on a scouting mission to survey Hanzo's troupes that were settled a few miles away pass a ravine from their campsite; Konan and few others from her group were captured. Her fellow team members where slaughtered, gutted, and their beheaded bodies thrown into piles on the bottom of a rock quarry, where soon Yahiko and his forces came to initiate the siege of Hanzo's campsite. Nearly all of Yahiko's forces were then annihilated as a surprising revelation occurred. Hanzo had recruited the Wark Hawk Danzo and members of his secret group, Ne, to help him eradicate the insurgence of Yahiko and his forces. Barely twenty members survived along with Yahiko and Nagato.

Konan found herself at knife-point, held by one of Hanzo's men, watching helplessly as both hers, Yahiko's, and Nagato's dreams were coming to a crashing end.

Then her world fell apart completely. Hanzo demanded, for Konan's own life, that Yahiko's to be taken instead.

Nagato ignored the demand and talked with the remaining members to try and devise a way out of this and still hold strong.

Yahiko's eyes were solely on Konan, the pain and devastation only readable by peering into those perfect blue orbs of his. He then called for Nagato to stop. He then did the unimaginable. He called for Nagato to come at him and end his life.

Konan cried out for Yahiko to stop and forget her and to keep on pursuing his dream, their dream, for a better future.

Yahiko sadly gave her a smile but continued on calling for Nagato to end his life. Then, he rushed at Nagato, whose shaky hand holding his kunai was frozen as Yahiko grabbed the hand holding it and forcefully plunged it into his gut, twisting it in the process to make the deed done.

Konan cried out loud and in pain as she felt her soul and heart crumble.

Everything went black as she passed out from her mental and exhausted anguish.

When she recovered, she found herself being carried back to the campsite by a bloodied Nagato. No words were shared as she was too emotionally and physically exhausted to ask about the events that took place.

When Konan awoke, she asked Nagato a reprieve but promised to return to help continue helping him making Yahiko's and their dream a reality. Months passed as she traveled. She had no place in mind to travel to but settled to stay in Takigakure as it was there she blacked out. It was also there where she had given birth to her son.

What could have been the happiest moment of her life turned into a deep abyss of regret and sadness. Looking at her child, she saw the tracers of both Yahiko and herself. His hair was a faint dark blue like her own, but his eyes, they were Yahiko's.

Konan cried, she cried long and hard as she glimpsed at her child cradling it close to her chest.

"Yahiko…"

Her mournful whispering only served to make her ach even more.

"Konan-chan?"

Her eyes fluttered open, coated in the dewy tears that continued to cascade down her cheeks, she saw the blurry image of a man standing in the doorway of her room in the hospital she was in. Wiping away the tears she took another look at the individual and her body tensed as she soon recognized him.

A tall man, big in build, he had snowy-white hair that was spiky and long as it came to a stop to the small of his back. His eyes were outlined in red, a huge scroll came strapped to his back and a kanji for "oil" was adorning the plate strapped to his forehead. His eyes which were known for their mirth were now in shock as he looked at her, his mouth gaping in shock.

"Jiraya-sensei." She said, emotionlessly.

"Wha…What are you doing here in Taki?" He asked as he approached her bedside, sitting in a chair adorning the bed she was in.

She turned away from him as she looked out the window of her room. Her thoughts came to Yahiko as another stab of pain struck her emotions and memories came hurtling at her of her, Yahiko, and Nagato training under Jiraya of the Sennin; the man sitting next to her.

Jiraya, sad that she was ignoring him as it has been over ten years since he had last seen her and her two friends, his other two brief students; sighed and then looked at the wrapped up bundle that lay in her arms, sleeping soundly.

Jiraya smiled as he put a finger to the side of the child's face and stroked it.

"I see you became a mother, Konan. He's beautiful."

Konan turned back to Jiraya and then looked at her child in her arms.

"Who's the father?" Jiraya asked, seeing as he had her attention again.

Konan then cried again and was unresponsive for five minutes. When she stopped she calmed herself by breathing deeply and then looked outside the window once more before looking back at Jiraya who had a look of sympathy on his face as, it seemed, he had correctly surmised as to the fate of the father.

"Why are you here, Jiraya-sensei?" She asked.

Jiraya folded his arms and smirked. "Nothing much. Just been visiting my spy networks before heading back to Konoha to report back to the Yondaime."

Konan nodded, still looking out the window. Her thoughts went back to Nagato and how long she had been away and her desire to return.

"What's the tyke's name?" Jiraya asked, still looking at the bundle in her arms.

Konan, once again, looked at her child and shivered. She would have to name it. But that wasn't enough; she would have to raise it as well, wouldn't she? But without Yahiko…

She shivered, again, and then thought about what kind of future her child would have with her as she continued on with Nagato in the pursuit of their dream to wrest the control of Ame away from Hanzo. That was no life for a child, nor would she be actually be able to raise it as she would be in a continuous life or death situation. She sighed as she realized what she had to do.

She turned and looked at her estranged Sensei. At another time she would have yelled at him for abandoning her, Yahiko, and Nagato; but instead, now, she would be asking him for a favor.

"Jiraya-sensei, I need you to take this child."

Jiraya's eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

Konan sighed as she then began to explain to him what has happened since Jiraya had left her and the others those ten years ago. Jiraya listened intently, never interrupting and when Konan had finished he gave her a hard look.

"You realize Konan-chan that this dream of yours is near impossible."

Konan looked away from him. Jiraya continued.

"We were nearly defeated by Hanzo when you three met us. Now you tell me that Yahiko's dead and most of your forces are wiped out. Are you really so dead-certain enough to believe you can succeed?"

Konan turned on him and glared at him. "You weren't there for us when we needed you the most, don't try and make it sound like you know us or what we're capable of."

Jiraya sighed as he rubbed the back of his head. "Fine, I'll stay out of it and let you do what you think must be done. But I must disagree when it come to your child. He'll need his mother."

Konan looked down at her son and shook her head. "No, he won't. I'll only bring him more misery as I don't know when this war with Hanzo will end. He's better off being raised in a loving environment where war isn't ever-present. My…darling Naruto deserves that, at least."

Jiraya looked at her with wide eyes.

"Naruto?"

She nodded. "It was a name from your book that Yahiko said he liked the most. He was courageous and never gave up. Just like Yahiko…" Konan's parched eyes began to fill with tears again as she clutched the sleeping babe to her chest and started to rock herself back and forth. When she stopped and calmed herself, she took a deep breath as she handed the baby to Jiraya.

Jiraya first stared at Konan for awhile before setting his eyes on the child she held out for him.

"Konan…I'm not able to take care of a child, you realize. If this boy would come with me, most likely he'll be placed in an orphanage."

Konan nodded, "As long as he lives and never sees the horrors that are apart of my world, it'll be fine. As long as he gets a life he should have, it'll be fine."

Jiraya closed his eyes and sighed as he reached out and took the child and held him to himself. He looked down at the sleeping babe and gave a faint smile. It looked so peaceful and so much like his mother.

"Konan, when should I tell him about you and Yahiko?" Jiraya looked up only to notice that Konan was no longer there and that the window was open. Looking out, he saw the faint image of a person with paper wings flying out toward the horizon.

To be continued…..

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	2. The Beginning of Naruto

House of Paper: A Mother and Son's Journey

Chapter Two: The Beginning of Naruto

It was night when Jiraya arrived back in Konoha. Through the entire trip, Jiraya had a lot to think. A lot was regret as he considered how his former students from Ame had come to be and their current war against Hanzo. His thoughts then turned to the bundle strung to his chest.

The young babe that was Naruto had slept soundly through out the entire trip from Taki. Only awakening once to be fed and then fell back asleep. Jiraya was saddened by the boy's mother's choice but respected her for not wanting her son to be in the midst of all she was trying to accomplish; no matter how Jiraya felt it was futile.

Passing the guards, who recognized Jiraya instantly, thus letting him pass with no intrusion or inquiry; he continued on toward the Hokage Tower, jumping from rooftop to rooftop as he held the child securely to himself. He then took a mighty leap towards the window outside of the Hokage's office. Securing himself to the side of the building by chakra, he carefully slid the window open and crouched on the rim as he announced his presence.

"Hey Hokage-gaki, how've things been since I've been gone?"

The Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze, standing in the room along with the former Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Minato's fiancé, Kushina Uzumaki; grinned broadly as Jiraya came in.

"Ah, Ero-Sensei, how was your travels?"

Jiraya grumbled about disrespectful brats as he settled himself on the couch in the room, taking Naruto out of the sling and holding him in his arm.

This got the attention of the room as all the eyes settled on the sleeping dark-blue haired baby nestled in Jiraya's arm.

"Uh, Jiraya-kun, what have you got there?" Sarutobi asked, sticking a pipe in his mouth ready to be lit.

Kushina knocked the pipe out of his mouth scowling at him and then focused on the baby and raised an eyebrow.

"Stealing babies now, you old leach?"

Jiraya growled, "No! An old acquaintance of mine gave me this brat as she is unable to raise it herself."

Kushina's eyebrow remained risen. "And you are?"

Jiraya sighed, "No, I'm not. Naruto, here, will be put into an orphanage. I told her this and she accepted."

Minato came and sat down next to Jiraya. "Naruto, huh? Like the character from your book?"

Jiraya nodded and puffed his chest out as he gave a big shit-eating grin. "Yup, she named him right after the character. Practically makes me the boy's Godfather."

A slight happy-gurgle came from the bundle making everyone turn to the dark blue-haired child.

"See he likes his Godfather." Jiraya said proudly as Naruto reached out and grabbed his finger.

Minato sighed as he looked at the child. "Well, I guess I better get the documentation together for this kid to go into the orphanage." Walking back to his desk, Minato was halted by the loud rumble that caused the whole tower to shake. Outside, the forestry surrounding Konoha was engulfed in flames and a monstrous roar came thundering around them.

Minato's bottom lip began to quiver as his eyes were wide in panic.

"No…the Kyuubi….intelligence said he wouldn't be coming for a few more months…"

Jiraya stood up straight holding the child who began to now cry.

"So, the beast has finally come."

Minato shuddered as he lowered his head, his whole body now shaking. Kushina came next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Minato-kun…"

Taking a deep breath, Minato turned to the others and soon the door to the office opened and in came Tsunade, Orochimaru, the heads of the Clans of Konoha, Homura, Koharu, Danzo, and the Captain of the ANBU forces, Sanosuke.

"Everyone, the protection of the village comes first and foremost. Tsunade-sama, I need you to get the hospital ready for what I fear will be inevitable."

Tsunade nodded and wordlessly took her leave.

"Orochimaru-sama, I need you and the Clan heads to set up the defenses and plan out the first wave of attack against the monster. Take no risks, no matter what."

Orochimaru sneered at the Hokage but then turned and walked out followed by a majority of the Clan heads.

"Sandaime-sama, I need you along with the Hokage's advisors and the Nara heads to come up with several alternative measures should the worst come to pass."

Sarutobi nodded and left the room along with Koharu and Homura along with the current Nara clan head, Shikasa Nara.

Minato turned to Kushina, "I need you and the rest to order a safe evacuation point for all the citizens and-"

A thundering crash interrupted Minato and all in the building fell to the floor due to the tremor. When Minato shakily rose, he looked out the window to see that the Kyuubi had breached the gate and now hundreds of Konoha's forces were in a futile combat against the beast fox. Its tails caused a multitude of disasters as buildings were being destroyed around it, fires shooting out in all directions causing people to run in fear.

The sky was turning an ominous black mixed with grey.

Minato swallowed hard as he turned back to the people still in the room.

"You have your orders, now go!" He shouted.

They nodded and departed in flickers and leaves.

Minato, then, fell to his knees and started slamming his fist against the ground.

"Dammit! Dammit!"

Jiraya bent low, Naruto still in his arm, and grabbed Minato by the arm and pulled him up.

"Now's not the time to shake, Minato! Act!"

Minato nodded and went into the file drawer and pulled out a scroll and looked over it before sighing heavily.

"Jiraya-sensei, I neglected to mention that there is no way we can possibly defeat this thing by our means alone. Through my studies, I found the only think to stop it fully is to use the Shikafuujin and seal it inside of a person. However, it comes with a price as it takes the life of the person who casts it. It's a double-edged sword."

Jiraya nodded, grimly. Knowing the hidden statement about what his student was planning on doing, wishing there was another way.

Minato's expression became more forlorn as he looked at the child in Jiraya's arms.

"I'm about to ask you something I'll regret as I go into the afterlife, only hoping something good comes after it."

Jiraya looked down at the child and he put two and two together. His eyes, at first, widened in shock, but then closed and he sighed in bitter understanding.

"You need a child to complete the sealing and to seal the beast into, am I correct?" He asked in a quiet, detached, voice.

Minato nodded, sadly.

Jiraya sighed as he held out the child, who had calmed down, to Minato, looking away.

"For Konoha." He said in a withdrawn voice.

Minato nodded and took the child into his arms before vanishing in a blaze of yellow light.

Jiraya stumbled back and fell to the couch he had been previously on and held his hands to his head.

_Please forgive us for we are about to do, Konan._

==Six years later==

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Sandaime Hokage, reinstated to the Hokage position; looked out the window of the Hokage office as he reflected all that had happened in the past six years.

After the sealing of the Kyuubi into young Naruto and the subsequent death of the Yondaime; Naruto was to be proclaimed as hero of Konoha and was met with much opposition as nearly every villager, learning about what was done to the Kyuubi, had called for his death. However, when Jiraya submitted a report about Naruto's parentage to the council and the fact that his mother had a rare bloodline, it then became complicated.

Many of the Shinobi on the council were interested in what Naruto might become and that Konoha would soon gain a new bloodline. People like Danzo were interested in taking the boy under their wing to be trained and integrated into their clan or unit. At the same time, there were those that felt it either didn't matter whether he had a bloodline as the Kyuubi was still a danger in their mind or they felt that he may never develop his mother's bloodline abilities thus he should be eliminated before the seal weakened or when the Kyuubi might be able to influence the boy against the village. Sarutobi was forced to instigate a law that would forbid anyone speaking of the Kyuubi under punishment of death. This way the boy would be able to make friends in his generation and possibly live to be reunited with his mother when or if she succeeded her coup against Hanzo in Ame.

That was a naïve belief. A week after the meeting, news came that announced that all the rebels against Hanzo had been killed in a brutal attack by Hanzo himself. All hope that Konan Hitogawa survived were slim as the report stated that no one survived. Once this news had reached the Clan Council, several Clan heads started putting their names in consideration for adoption of the boy as he now had no one to claim him.

The dispute went to a decision that the boy should be raised by a clan who had no goals for power of a Jinjuruuki or were greedy for his bloodline. A clan that might help the boy harness and utilize his virtually unknown bloodline for the benefit of Konoha.

Sarutobi rubbed his temples in agitation as the memories came back on how tiring that was.

In the end, the Nara clan was chosen to take him in. Shikaku gave the boy a place of his own on the Nara estate where he was to be raised by his niece, Saiyuri. Sayuri Nara was a perfect choice as she had no ill-will against the Kyuubi who had taken her husband's life and had always wanted to have a child. She raised young Naruto Hitogawa well.

Other than Naruto's situation, there were other troubling issues that came.

Sarutobi's students, the Sennin, had gone into a torrent of changes.

Tsunade, still in grief over her fiancé and her younger brother's deaths, from the years that had past in the village, left with her student, Shizune, in tow; vowing never to return.

Orochimaru, bitter over the loss of the Hokage position first to Minato and then to Sarutobi reclaiming it, began horrible experiments on the shinobi and villagers and then ran away into exile and becoming a nuke-nin. Naruto was once a target of his but was carefully protected by practically all of the Nara clan and Shikaku nearly had a fight in the middle of the street with Orochimaru when he became insistant on using Naruto for a few "select" experiments to see what he truly would be capable of.

Jiraya was the most heart-breaking, in Sarutobi's eyes. With his student gone and his Godson turned into the village pariah, Jiraya left with a heavy-heart with little or no reassurances of his own return. However, Sarutobi was reassured by receiving reports from his student over the year to aid Konoha in their reports of current affairs in the shinobi world all over.

Sarutobi put his pipe in his mouth as he took a deep intake of smoke and exhumed a plume of smoke from his nostrils as he folded his arms behind his back.

It had been a long six years, but now Konoha looked to be slowly getting back onto its feet.

The Burning Will of Fire was becoming reignited.

* * *

Sitting outside, tending to a small garden in front of a small cottage, a woman with shoulder-length black hair sat as she attended to the shrubs and greenery. Her brown eyes looked all over her work as she wiped her brow from her exertion and then stood as she wiped the dirt onto her white apron. Her eyes become diverted as she sees a small figure approaching. Squinting against the sunlight she smiles as she sees her cousin Shikamaru coming up the path to the cottage, dragging his feet lazily.

"Hello Shikamaru!" She called out to him.

Shikamaru looked up and muttered lazily, "Morning, Sayuri-nee-chan."

Sayuri giggled. She liked how, even she was his cousin by blood; that he always thought of her as the older, _troublesome_, sister he has come to refer her as.

"Is Naruto up yet? We have to get to the Academy today. So troublesome, I can't even take in my morning cloud-watching."

Sayuri smiled as she then turned her head towards the cottage.

"Naruto! Shikamaru's here! Get going!"

Shikamaru held his hands to his ears to disrupt the yelling Sayuri was doing.

_Troublesome women and their troublesome voices._

The door to the cottage opened and closed as a small figure came out. Standing as tall as Shikamaru, his spiky dark-blue hair made him appear taller than he was. Wearing brown baggy pants and a black t-shirt with white bandages strapping his pants to his legs, chewing on a sprig of celery; Naruto Hitogawa-Nara came out, squinting his slanted eyes against the morning's light.

He sighed as he turned to his adoptive mother.

"You know, Kaa-san, with your voice you could awake the whole village for war time."

Sayuri cocked an eyebrow and she grinned evilly at her son, cracking her knuckles.

"Care to repeat that, _son_?"

Naruto rolled his eyes and looked at Shikamaru.

"To quote you, _troublesome."_

Shikamaru nodded.

Sayuri sighed and rubbed her eyes with her fingers.

"Look, kiddo, just get going. You don't want to be late for your first trip to the academy, do you?"

Naruto shrugged and walked with his hand sin his pockets, like Shikamaru, and followed in step beside him as the two headed to the clan's gates leading out into the village.

Sayuri watched them until they left her site, worrying. She was afraid as this would be Naruto's first time outside of the Nara's gates. Ever since the sealing of the Kyuubi inside of Naruto, and with the adoption of Naruto into the Nara clan; there had been a constant fear of someone trying to harm Naruto. Shikaku had decreed that Naruto would remain in the Nara's walls until he was old enough to join the Shinobi Academy. Since that time, there had been repetitive times where some villagers were stupid enough to try and breach the compound and try to find Naruto within the grounds. They were quickly captured and then thrown back outside. The real headaches came when several other clans tried to convince Shikaku that those kinds of problems wouldn't happen in their clan houses and Naruto should be given to them.

Sayuri smirked as she remembered all the fun she had putting those snobs into their places and reminding them that Nartuo was hers and hers alone.

Sayuri sighed, that was then, though. Now he was outside the walls and he had to face both of those things on his own. She knew that the clans were probably now were going to try and have their daughters associate themselves with him in hope of a marriage arrangement in the future.

Her baby was growing up and now all she could do was watch from afar.

"You worry too much, mom."

Sayuri turned to see Naruto leaning against a tree looking at her, smiling. He then walked up to her and gave her a big hug.

"You don't have to worry. I'll be fine."

Sayuri chuckled as some tears came down her face.

"I know kiddo. I just love you too much, you know?"

Naruto leaned forward and gave his mother a kiss on the cheek.

"I know mom." He then gave her another quick hug before taking a step back. "See ya tonight!" Making a hand sign he turned into paper. The numerous sheets twirled up wards and then got caught by an updraft of wind. Sayuri watched as he sailed himself in all those pieces towards where Shikamaru was. Smiling, she took a deep breath before turning back to go to the cottage.

* * *

When Naruto and Shikamaru arrived at the Academy, they were soon greeted by the sights and sounds of chatter as students and their parents were gathered outside of the building, talking amongst themselves awaiting for the opening of the school.

Naruto and Shikamaru moved themselves to join their friends, Chouji and Ino who were with their parents.

Ino, who noticed them first began waiving her hand at them.

"Naruto! Lazy-butt! Over here!"

Naruto waived back while Shikamaru muttered another diatribe about annoying girls as the two of them moved to join their friends.

Ino's announcement caught the attention of many of the adults as their eyes soon came upon Naruto and soon they began whispering to their youths either in warning to their sons and daughters; others, giving suggestions to gain the blue-haired youth's favor to their daughters.

Naruto, continuing to chew on his celery, took all of it in, remembering his mother's advice prior to this day on how to deal with both sides. He knew about the Kyuubi inside of himself as Shikaku had decided, along with the Hokage, that Naruto should know as soon as he was old enough to understand so he could avoid any unpleasant confrontation and to better understand the village's behavior when he was met with it. Shikaku Nara drilled it in deep to Naruto when he was four that he was NOT the Kyuubi but rather his jailer that kept it away from the village and always remember it as such.

Swallowing the last bit, he joined in with Chouji on what they thought would their first year would be like. It ended at the first ringing of the bell announcing that class would begin soon.

Parents said goodbye to their children, giving hugs and words of encouragement before leaving them to go to their first day.

Naruto entered the classroom with his friends and walked up the stairs with a paper in his hand signifying his assigned seat and found himself next to a boy with shades and a high collared jacket. Sitting next to him, the boy turned and nodded at him before turning his gaze to the desk where a spider was walking across.

"What type of spider is that?" Naruto asked.

The boy turned and looked at Naruto again before setting his gaze back on the spider.

"It's a Kiri-Ridgeback, not of this region; must have come here from the imports of the merchants in town."

Naruto nodded. "Poisonous?"

The boy shook his head.

"Interesting." Naruto said.

The boy turned away from his object of interest and looked at Naruto.

"You are as well. Most of our age are repulsed by insects or are disinterested."

Naruto shrugged and leaned back and placed his feet on his desk. "The world is filled with many things. To be afraid or uninterested is stupid, in my opinion. Insects help our ecosystem and to know what they are and how they help, help us in return."

The boy nodded.

Naruto extended his hand. "Naruto Hitogawa."

The boy took his hand and shook it. "Shino Abarame. Nice to meet you, Naruto."

Naruto gave a grin and nodded. "Likewise."

Their conversation came to a stop as two teachers entered the room and called for class to settle down and take attendance.

One of them, a man in a Chuunin vest with his hair in a short pony-tail with a small thin scar on the bridge of his nose, looked up and surveyed all of the promising new individuals soon to become shinobi. His eyes soon stopped upon a boy with dark blue spiky hair sitting with his feet propped up on the desk. He looked at his list and soon came upon the name "Naruto Hitogawa" and a multitude of emotions came forward. Many of them anger towards the Kyuubi for making him an orphan. However, the teacher calmed himself down reminding himself that the Hokage was right, that there was a difference between the jailer and his prisoner. Though, it was going to be a rough year, he knew it as it would take him awhile before he could disassociate between the boy and the fox he had within him. Looking at the boy in question, you would have never had guessed he held the fox within him, unless you looked at his eyes closely as they were slanted like a fox's.

Sighing, the man turned to his assistant, also a Chuunin, who was glaring at the boy under a mask of faux-pleasantry. The man sighed once more, knowing what this year was going to be like and he didn't like the idea of it.

He turned back to the class.

"Welcome to your first year of Shinobi Acabemy. Here you will learn all what it means to be a ninja of Konoha and we will mold you into the best shinobi we can. I'm Iruka Umino, beside me is my assistant, Mizuki Kobayashi. We expect all of you to behave yourself for these six years we will be your instructors. Now, let's call for attendance. Abarame Shino."

"Here." Said the stoic boy next to Naruto.

"Akamichi Chouji."

"Here!" Said Chouji, who was munching on a bag of chips.

"Haruno Sakura."

"Here." Said a small voice. Naruto looked to see a girl with pink hair, her head down, she long bangs obscuring her eyes.

Iruka then gave a sigh as he looked up from his paper and looked directly at Naruto, which unnerved him a little bit.

"Hitogawa Naruto."

Naruto raised his hand, "Here."

Heads in the classroom turned and looked at him, then some whispers broke out. Some of the girls in the class began looking at him in a lusty manner while some gave him some suspicious manner. One boy looked at him from the corner of his eye, sizing him up before turning his attention back to the front of the class.

Iruka called everyone to be quiet before continuing on.

"Hyuuga Hinata."

"H-Here." Said another small voice, though stuttering. Naruto found her to be up in the row behind him in the corner, her head too down to her desk, her finger-tips tapping each other.

"I need all of you to speak up, please." Iruka said. "Inuzuka Kiba."

"Here!"

"Bark!"

Naruto looked down the rows to see a boy with his hood on and a small white puppy sitting on top of it, wagging happily.

Iruka then called out some others before coming to the N's.

"Nara Shikamaru."

There was silence.

"Nara Shikamaru?" Iruka repeated, now looking up from his paper and scanning the students to look for the student.

Naruto sighed and then took a sheet of paper from his pack and, without touching it, caused it to fold into a paper airplane.

Shino, watching, lifted his eyebrows in surprise and continued to watch in fascination.

Nartuo then lifted it up into the air, again without touching it, and caused it to come rocketing toward the back of Shikamaru's head to where it hit his head hard as if it were a rock.

"OW!" Shikamaru yelled. Rubbing his head hard, he snatched the paper and looked up with a scowl at Naruto who was pointing to the front of the class.

Shikamaru looked to Iruka and gave a lazy, "Here."

Iruka, who had witnessed the entire thing, sweat dropped.

"Alright. Continuing on. Uchiha Sasuke."

"Here." Came a dead tone of a boy in the front. Several voices in the class, most of which belonged to a handful of non-shinobi-related girls; started squealing outloud in fan-girl glee at the site of the boy. Naruto rolled his eyes and shared an unspoken sigh with Shino beside him.

"Yamanaka Ino."

"Here!" Ino's cocky smile came out as she raised her hand.

Iruka nodded and smiled as he looked over all of the students once more.

_Maybe it won't be so bad after all._

To be continued…..

A/N: Here's my list of potential Naruto pairings, not final nor will they happen soon, at least not for a few or more chapters. I'm unbiased so I'll see what you think:

Hinata

Ino

Sakura

Tenten

Fem. Haku

Yugito

OC (Most likely to be the green-haired girl featured to be the jinjuruuki who has the seven-tailed bijuu in her that's from Takigakure. If she has a name, please tell me, I don't know it)

Q-n-P


	3. Revelations

House of Paper

A/N: Thank you, all of you, for your reviews for the first two chapters and for the support of this idea of mine. I appreciate the view points and agree that it was a mistake on my part to start this up with a poll on potential pairings, for that I'm sorry. Just so it's clear, no actual pairings will come into effect for quite awhile. I'm a firm believer for there to be friendship before any romance begins. For that matter, there'll be strictly only regular interaction, with the occasional flirtatious moments between Naruto and the female characters (Those will be limited). The main thing I want to focus on this story is building the character that is the Naurto I've created for this story and go more in depth into the ambiguous character that is Konan. Everything else is secondary.

Two reviewers seemed adamantly opposed to me changing both Naruto's parentage and his hair color. Sorry, but thems the ropes. That's how this story is and I make no apologizes for making that decision.

Now, on with the story….

Chapter Three: Revelations

Years had passed since Naruto had entered Konoha's Ninja Academy and it had been interesting, to say the least.

It was soon revealed, during a bushin exercise, of Naruto's special bloodline ability as he created fifteen versions of himself made entirely out of paper. The students looked upon the scene with either envy or with wonder.

Iruka was impressed while Mizuki was indifferent.

Naruto's unique bloodline had been public knowledge with most of the adults of the Shinobis as Jiraya of the Sennin had gave the information to the Shinobi Council after the sealing of the Kyuubi, thus had the struggle for who should claim Naruto at that time.

Naruto's training concerning his bloodline had been speculative, at best. Sayuri and Shikaku tried their best to determine all the visible aspects to the specific ability Naruto possessed when he revealed his ability at the age of four when they began teaching him to mold his chakra. Since the Nara Clan has the ability to control and manipulate shadows, the theory was that the same method could be applied to Naruto's ability over paper, which he could create seemingly out of thin air and manipulate his body into them. For two years, since that revelation, Sayuri and Shikaku had been working with Naruto to try and decipher the mysteries to his bloodline.

Over the years, some more changes had occurred that affected a lot of the Village hidden in the Leaves. The Uchiha Clan, an old and prestigious clan known for their uncanny ability to be fearsome fighters with their doujutsu, the Sharingan; had become wiped out in a single night by the act of one of their own, Uchiha Itachi, and, either as an act of mercy or cruelty, nobody knew; left Uchiha Sasuke, his younger brother, being the only remainder of his clan to exist in Konoha. Itachi, then, left the village; his whereabouts unknown. Several months later, after the massacre, Uchiha Sasuke's behavior seemed to have changed dramatically. He was more withdrawn than before, adopting a cold persona and refusing to interact with any of his peers. This, in turn, caused many of the Kunoichi-wannabes in the class, notoriously Ino and Sakura, to start viewing him as a dark and mysterious character, one, to which they would start to have an immense crush on. Sasuke, however, paid none of it any mind as he seemed to become more and more withdrawn. His focus had shifted to pushing himself to the limits and more. Thus, started his attention to his male classmates' abilities and then focusing on Naruto's.

Naruto felt pity for his classmate. After his fourth birthday it had also been revealed to Naruto, by the Sandaime, that his birth parents had been killed in Ame over a failed uprising against its leader Hanzo. Naruto remembered having conflicted feelings over the revelation of who his parents were and then the pang of sadness that he would never be able to meet them. Sayuri had been an immense help to his getting over that moment, no matter how it still resides inside of him. It was from that experience that Naruto felt that he could relate to Uchiha Sasuke. There had been several moments to where he would try and try again to try and get the stubborn Uchiha to talk to him about it or see if the two of them could hang out and possibly talk. No matter what Naruto did, Sasuke continued to shut him out. That is, until the bushin practice started and when Naruto's bloodline was revealed to the student body.

It was after that, that Sasuke seemed to be paying more and more attention to Naruto. However, he never seemed to want to become friends or to learn more about Naruto outside of the training and the classroom. Instead, he started to have a borderline obsession for sparring only against Naruto and to watch him during training practices.  
He wasn't the only one trying to test out his strength against the Hitogawa-Nara-adoptee. Inuzuka Kiba, in a state of territoriality and pack leadership; also started engaging Naruto at sparring sessions.

Naruto was beginning to tire of it all. He had no desire to prove himself as he was only interested passing the classes and getting on a team so he could see outside the village for once. He wanted to do all of the things he had read in books: defeating the bad guys, rescuing the damsels in distress, accomplishing the impossible, and seeing all there was in the world.

Now, with the Genin Exam Test coming, he felt things would get better.

* * *

Naruto began his day as usual. He woke up, reluctantly, kissed Sayuri goodbye, met with Shikamaru by the Nara Clan's gates, walked to school and met with Chouji along the way, and entered the class and took his seat next to Shino. The two would discuss things, Naruto usually doing the talking with Shino adding comments rarely; and wait for Iruka and Mizuki-sensei to arrive to start the class.

"Good morning class, the tests for the Genin Exam will start after your lunch period. Before then, we'll begin with a rough review of what we went over the years." Iruka said and then nodded to Mizuki who began passing out papers. Iruka continued with a barely hidden smirk.

"With a quiz."

A loud groan came from the class and then mutterings as Mizuki walked all over the class handing out papers to the students.

The blue-haired paper user sighed as he accepted his test from Mizuki who had a gleam in his eye as he looked back at Naruto from the corner of his eye.

Naruto had never trusted Mizuki-sensei as he, along with a majority of the village, seemed to act weird around him. While the villagers seemed to be hostile, others patronizing, and most impassive; Mizuki-sensei seemed….well…just plain weird. There were times when he would act like a jerk and never call a halt to a spar that was between Naruto and Sasuke, when Sasuke was obviously having the upper hand, viciously beating Naruto senseless; a malicious grin on his face while watching. Other times he was a nice guy that would welcome Naruto every time he saw him.

Naruto shook his head to get rid of these past feelings and focused on the quiz in front of him. It was a quiz with questions he knew he wouldn't be able to answer. Normally, with the other tests and quizzes, Naruto was mostly able to answer them to satisfaction. He wasn't a genius like Sasuke, nor was he book-smart like Sakura, bust he was able to get by without failing.

Naruto sighed. This was another one of those _moments_. There had been times in the past where he was given a test or two like this one that had such difficulty he'd never be able to answer it without resulting to his tricks he had up his sleeve.

Reaching into said sleeve, Naruto pulled out an origami paper crane that he had made awhile ago. This crane, though, was a bushin of himself; carefully henged into its paper form. Naruto had started making these awhile back when he learned his relationship with paper. While, with his unique amount of chakra stores, could only make them last no longer than half a day; he found he could create as many as nearly over a thousand without so much as becoming fatigued.

Looking around to make sure no ones attention would be on him, Naruto looked to the open window of the classroom and made the paper crane flap and fly out his hands and silently flew out of the classroom and to the library to get the answers for the difficult quiz given to Naruto.

Minbutes passed and son the bird came back and settled onto Naruto's lap. Naruto waived his hand over the bird which then unfolded itself into a single sheet that held the answers to the quiz.

Naruto smirked as he wrote down all the answers to the test, looking up to see that Mizuki had never once looked in his direction with suspicion.

Much to Naruto's satisfaction, two results happened with the turning in of his quiz. One was that Mizuki was hopping-mad that Naruto had actually answered the Chuunin-level questions to satisfaction and two was that Iruka had taken Mizuki out to reprimand the man for accidentally giving Naruto such a difficult quiz. He returned with a look of pure fury on his face, failing to hide it to any of the students who all stepped back in fear from the large vein protruding from his forehead.

Lunchtime came and Naruto spent it with Shino as the two of them seemed to enjoy each other's company. They spent a lot of time talking, most on Naruto's part, about what they would do in their future teams, what missions they'd want, and who they thought would be good teammates to have. By the time they had finished, the bell had rung announcing the end of the lunch time period.

Walking back inside to the classroom, Naruto was suddenly pulled into an empty classroom and turned to see a serious looking Uchiha.

"Teme, what do you want?" Naruto asked, scowling in irritation of having been brought in, in such a way.

Sasuke made his famous grunt as he looked away. "Hn, just remember, blue-haired dobe, you better not fail." With that, Sasuke turned and left the classroom, leaving Naruto with an incredulous look on his face.

"What the hell was that all about?" He asked no one.

When Naruto returned and took his seat with Shino, Iruka and a still seething Mizuki waited until everyone settled until announcing the commencement of the Genin Exam tests. The students were then subjected to a physical and endurance test outside the building. This was set with an obstacle course, all with perilous and non-perilous objects and traps. The kunai and shuriken throwing was next along with the construction of explosive tags and field knowledge of medical herbs and toxins to be found in the forest. So far, Naruto and his friends had succeeded or satisfactorily passed each of these routines. Next came the part that would either pass or fail each one of them from becoming a Genin.

The bushin, henge, and kawarimi test.

For this, each student was called individually into the sensei's room where the student was to perform all three of these jutsus, should they fail anyone of them, they'd fail the exam no matter how successful they had been in the other areas of the Exam.

Shino was the first to enter and soon came out sporting his hitae-ate with Konoha leaf symbol.

"Way to go, Shino!" Naruto called out, exuberantly.

Shino nodded and went back to his seat next to Naruto as others were soon called and some either sheering with success while others had their heads hung in shame upon leaving the room.

"Hitogawa Naruto!" Iruka announced.

Naruto smirked and looked at Shino.

"I sooooo got this in the bag!" Naruto then leapt to his feat and hopped down the row of desks, some of their occupants shouting at him as he was doing so, until he reached the bottom and proceeded into the sensei's room where he closed the door behind him and stepped forward to be in front of Iruka and Mizuki who were seated at a table with numerous amounts of hitae-ates awaiting for someone to wear them.

"Alright, Naruto, let's begin with bushin, shall we?" Iruka asked, nodding.

Naruto nodded in return and started channeling chakra to the outside of his body toward the paper listing the students names in front of Mizuki, changing it's form to where, in a puff of smoke; became another Naruto standing on the senseis' desk.

Iruka nodded his approval while Mizuki just sneered.

"Henge!" Mizuki barked. Iruka looked at his associate with a barely hidden look of disapproval for his outburst.

Naruto, unfazed by Mizuki, nodded and made a unique handsign and soon his entire body fell apart bit by bit turning into unfolding paper that soon swirled in a tornado-like motion and then all the pieces went out into different locations around the room attaching themselves to the walls of the room, each one changing themselves into either printed documents or posters.

'_Incredible'_, Iruka thought as he looked around the room, '_If he could hide his chakra signature better, he would be a master of stealth and assassination.' _Mizuki, next to him, seemed to be growling louder and louder in irritation. Iruka paid it no mind.

"Alright, Naruto, the last thing you need to do is kawarimi with an object in this room and you'll have passed the Gening Exam."

Naruto, then, appeared out of nowhere from the ceiling as he came dropping down. Elsewhere in the room there was a crashing sound as a light bulb was shattered against the ground near a wall where Naruto had been.

Naruto grinned as he scratched the back of his head, sheepishly. "Well, that was less stealthy than I had planned."

Iruka chuckled at the modesty of his student. That _was_ less than stealthy but the act of replacing yourself with something securely screwed into an object, in a matter of seconds; was astounding to say the least.

"No matter," Iruka said, "You've still managed to complete the Exam. Congratulations Hitogawa Naruto, you are now officially a Genin of Konohagakure." Iruka then handed Naruto a hitae-ate off of the table.

Naruto, smiling, took the metal plate with cloth attached and bowed to both of the men in front of him.

"Thank you both, Senseis."

Iruka smiled and nodded.

There was a loud smashing sound as both turned to look as Mizuki's fist was now imbedded into the wall, his whole body shaking and a look of unbridled fury etched on his face as he was looking at Naruto.

"You….should not have passed…you-"

"Mizuki!" Iruka warned, his whole body tensing.

"Demon!" Roared Mizuki as he then leapt at Naruto, a kunai in his hand.

Suddenly, a large wall of paper appeared and came in-between Naruto and the raged Mizuki.

"Damn you!" Mizuki shouted as he tried, in futility, to rip through the wall of paper between Naruto and himself, which was like trying to claw through a stone surface.

Iruka appeared behind Mizuki and grabbed him into a full-nelson position, Mizuki shouting and struggling in response.

"Mizuki! Control yourself!" Iruka shouted.

"No! How can you even think of protecting that thing! Didn't the Kyuubi killed your family, Umino?! We should exact our revenge on this thing posing as a human for the village once and for all!!!"

In a rush of memories, Iruka thought back to when he had similar sentiments the same as Mizuki towards Hitogawa Naruto. Then the memoires of all the moments he had with the blue-haired student both in the class and outside of it. All of them were with Iruka smiling and Naruto smiling in return.

Iruka bent his head down, still struggling with Mizuki as he took a shaky breath before pulling his head up slowly.

"He's not the Kyuubi, Mizuki." He said in a quiet tone.

"Nonsense!" Mizuki shouted, now thrashing his body against Iruka's hold. "When the Kyuubi was sealed into the brat, he became the brat! He's still the Kyuubi!"

Suddenly, in a flash, three members of Konoha's ANBU were in the room, their faces hidden by clay masks resembling animals, their bodies dressed in black armor and cloaks.

"Mizuki Touji, you've been found guilty of breaking the Third's Law. You will come with us now." One, who had the mask of a Neko, said in an authoritative tone.

Mizuki was then struck in the back of the head, rendering him unconscious and was disappeared along with the rest of the ANBU in a swirl of leaves.

Iruka looked away as he took the moment to regain his breath, holding Mizuki had taken a lot out of him. He turned and noticed, in astonishment, that the paper barrier Naruto had placed between himself and Mizuki was beginning to breakdown. Once it fell completely, Iruka looked on in alarm as he had completely forgotten something in that incident.

Naruto had remained in the room.

The Third's Law has now been compromised.

To be continued…………

A/N: Well, I know I've made some people either disappointed or intrigued by this story. Hopefully the latter will continue.

Please Review.

Q-n-P


	4. Do you Know him?

House of Paper

Chapter Four: Do you know him?

The Sandaime, Sarutobi Hiruzen, had not been looking forward to this particular moment. This day had been emotionally exhausting already.

Earlier, he had Iruka Umino enter his office with Naruto, who looked as if the entire world was crashing around him. Iruka had explained to the Hokage as to what had happened during Naruto's exam and of Mizuki's rampage. Sarutobi then called in for both Shikaku and Sayuri and all of them encouraged Naruto that he wasn't the Kyuubi and that there were people who cared for him. Soon after they had left, then the real trouble began as Iruka's report about the individual students' progress and his official remarks after their final test and passing had caused an unforeseen frenzy amongst the Jounins that were set up to be senseis for the three men squads of Genin that had graduated.

What had caused this sort of stir? Iruka's report on Naruto's unpolished abilities.

Now, the Sandaime, the strongest ninja in the village, The Professor; was trying to maintain order within his own office and was failing miserably. Hatake Kakashi and Kurenai Yuhi were having a battle for the placement of Naruto to be on their own team. It seemed like a reflection of the dispute between the clans when placing Naruto with a family had been put to decision.

"You don't need him, Kurenai; you'll already have the Inuzuka, the Hyuuga, and the Aburame on your team. You'll already have a successful tracking force. He's needed on my team as ours will be a specialized attack group." Kakashi said as he lazily turned the page of his favorite perverted novella.

"I'm willing to let Kiba go as he'll be more suited for your team as his temperament is more suited with that of the Uchiha's. Naruto would work better with my group as he gets along with both Shino and Hinata. They'll be able to focus more and won't be held back by petty rivalry and bickering as opposed to what will happen if he's placed on _your_ team." Kurenai countered.

"All this for one Genin. Oh how the mighty have fallen." Chuckled Asuma as he lit a fresh cigarette; earning him a disapproving glare by Kurenai.

Sarutobi looked towards his son. "I'm surprised you aren't fighting to have him as well."

Asuma shrugged as he exhaled a plume of smoke from his nostrils. "I'm happy with the team I have. They're like their parents in abilities; the rest will work out for itself."

Sarutobi nodded and then looked back at the expecting two Jonins who were waiting for a decision on Sarutobi's part.

Sarutobi sighed as he folded his hands in front of him. He hated this part.

"You do realize, Kurenai-san, that Naruto-kun has no aptitude for learning Genjutsus, due to the Kyuubi's chakra?"

Kurenai nodded, looking slightly down that she would not be able to help him because of that _handicap_ of his.

Sarutobi, then, looked to Kakashi. "Kakashi-san, are you 100 percent certain that you'll be able to train the boy, especially since his bloodline has no record of how to train it? More so, will you be able to train him when the council has it in mind that they would wish for you to spend more, if not all of your time, training Uchiha Sasuke?"

Kakashi closed his book and sighed as he looked, contemplatively, at the floor. Looking up again he merely shrugged.

Sarutobi sighed as he rubbed his temples from the two thumbs of his folded hands. He really hated this job at some times. "So, neither one of you would really be able to help the boy, at least not be able to help him in the ways that matter?"

Neither one really replied, other than Kurenai hanging her shoulders in defeat; yet, after a moment of silence, she did utter five words: "If not us, who then?"

Sarutobi closed his eyes as he thought long and hard on that question before opening them up and smiling.

"I think I know just who."

* * *

Naruto was sitting outside of the cottage on the patio, his arms wrapped tightly around his legs as he slowly rocked himself, his mind reeling from the news that today had brought.

The light had finally shed on the one thing that had been bothering him as long as he could remember: why did the villagers hold him in such contempt? He wished it could have been something simple as a relative that had pissed them off or that his eyes, slanted as they were, were an ugly feature that some of the village puritans found distasteful.

No, it was something much more sinister than those, something that had been carefully hidden from everyone Naruto's age and below.

Naruto lifted his shirt and stroked the skin on top of his stomach, making small circles with his finger tips. Sighing, he put his shirt back down and looked back out at the forested area that surrounded the Nara compound. A few deer could be seen grazing in the late hour, some of which looked at him curiously, their ears twitching as if waiting for him to respond to their having taken notice of him. Naruto diverted his gaze and looked down at his feet.

Why him? Why was it he, who had just arrived in Konoha that day being brought by Jiraya of the legendary Sannin, to be chosen to hold something so hated as the Kyuubi? Did the Yondaime do it just because he didn't want to risk using some child from the village and thought using an outsider was the safest option? The Sandaime sugar-coated it, at least in Naruto's eyes, stating that the Yondaime saw hidden potential in Naruto at that time; Naruto scoffed at that thought.

However, looking over the years, Naruto had to admit that his life really wasn't that crappy, at least compared to what it could have been should have he not been adopted by the Nara clan. Having not interacted with the villagers for the first six years of his life, if he had he could only imagine what their treatment of him could have impacted his behavior.

"It'd be too troublesome." Naruto muttered and then erupted into a chuckle-fit as hanging around his cousin seemed to have a profound affect on him.

"Naruto? Are you still out here?"

Naruto turned and saw Sayuri walking towards him, arms crossed, a worried expression on her face.

The blue-haired boy sighed as he turned back towards the forest.

"You shouldn't look like that, Kaa-san. It doesn't suit you."

"Nor does your attitude, lately." Sayuri countered as she then sat herself next to her son and slung her arm around his shoulder. A knowing expression on her face as she gave him a one armed side-hug. "It's still bothering you, isn't it?"

Naruto nodded.

Sayuri sighed, still holding him in the awkward embrace. "Naruto, do you remember what I told you when you asked me why I choose you when Shikaku-sama brought you home?"

Naruto looked down and nodded.

"What did I say?" Sayuri took Naruto's head and turned it to face her, her gaze boring deep into Naruto's slanted eyes.

Naruto cast his eyes down, "You said I looked just too perfect to turn down and let others take the pleasure in getting to know before you did. That, I looked like a little angel that had lost its way to heaven."

Sayuri, then, kissed Naruto's forehead, smiling serenely. "I meant all of that, Naruto-kun. Even with the knowledge that what you held had took away my husband. You know, if Daisuke was still here, I think he would say the same thing to you. He'd be very proud of what you've become."

Naruto blushed from the compliment and a smile crept its way across his face as he took his arm and returned the embrace his adoptive mother was giving him.

"Thanks, Kaa-san."

Sayuri gave him another hug and then got to her feet.

"Well, come on, then. You'll need to get up bright and early if you want to be at the Academy for team assignments."

Naruto groaned. "Way to kill the mood, Mom. You just had to say 'get up early', didn't you?"

Sayuri chuckled as she walked back inside, leaving Naruto to look up at the stars before coming inside.

The next morning came and all of those that had passed the Genin Exam sat in their seats sporting, proudly, their brand new hitae-ates symbolizing both their ascension into the shinobi ranks and into becoming adults in the eyes of the village. Some wore theirs in the traditional fashion around their foreheads; others opted to show them off by having them wrapped around their arms, necks, or, in some, as a belt buckle. Naruto chose to have his around his arm, telling Sayuri it was his 'badge of honor'. With this, he also changed his wardrobe, wearing a blue hoodie which was lighter shade compared to his cobalt-colored hair. Black and grey camouflaged cargo pants with white tape wrapped around his left thigh; shuriken, kunai, and med packs wrapped to his right. Shinobi sandals and fingerless gloves completed the fashion.

Class was abuzz with chatter as everyone was excitingly anticipating the next stage in their training as shinobi. They all quieted as soon as Iruka entered the class and sat down with a single sheet of paper. All eyes were upon him and the scarred chunnin looked upon the graduates with an appraising smile.

"Good morning, class. First of, congratulations for graduating from the academy, you've all done me proud and I hope to see great things from you all in the future. Now, without further ado, I will now tell you all the teams you'll be placed with along with your Jounin Sensei." He looked to the paper and started drawling off the names along with the name of their sensei.

"Team Seven will be Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Kubayashi Sai. Your Jounin Sensei will be Hatake Kakashi."

This illicit a groan from the Uchiha fan group, a triumphant yell of 'true love conquers all!' from Sakura, and a sigh of despair from both Sasuke and Sai.

Iruka continued, ignoring the responses from his announcement. "Team Eight will be Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino. Your Jounin Sensei will be Yuhi Kurenai."

A smile passed from Hinata and Shino while Kiba smirked and Akamaru on his head yipped.

"Team Nine is still in roster so no new members shall be announced. Team Ten will be Yamanaka Ino, Akamichi Chouji, and Nara Shikamaru. Your Jounin Sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma."

Naruto looked confused as to have be left out of the groups as everyone except him had been included in the Genin Team pairings. However, before he could call this to the attention of Iruka, the door of the class opened and an unusually dressed Kunoichi came causing all the class to divert their attention to her. Dressed in a long leather jacket and wearing a very revealing skin-tight mesh shirt and low-cut black shorts, the woman had a very predatory grin as she looked over the newest promising Genin; the males in the class looking at her with blushes and the girls in wide eyed stupor over the woman's choice of clothing.

The Purple haired woman turned to Iruka who looked nervous of her presence in the class.

"Which one of these gakis is Naruto Hideaki?" She asked the Chunnin.

Naruto, surprised as to the appearance of the woman, cocked an eyebrow as he raised his hand.

"That'd be me."

The woman's eyes darted towards him and her sinister smile never left her face as she eyed him like a snake flicking its tongue in preparation of striking at a field mouse.

"I see…Well, come with me, gaki. I'm to be your sensei."

Iruka sighed.

"Sorry, Naruto, but you're to be given a Mitarashi Anko here as your sensei, as your class is uneven for you to be paired with two others." Iruka gave Naruto an apologetic glance and, to Naruto, a look of pity.

Naruto shrugged as he got out of his seat. He waved goodbye to his friends as he left the class right behind the strange woman.

As soon as he closed the door behind them, Anko twirled around with her hands on her hips as she bent forward to Naruto.

"Alright, listen up, gaki. There's one thing I neglected to mention to you in there as if I had said it, it would have shown favoritism and caused those brats in there to make a fuss. You won't be having just me as your sensei, but two others as well."

Naruto blinked and then nodded dumbly.

Anko was a little unnerved by this child, even though she didn't show it as his slanted eyed eerily reminded her of her own sensei. She shrugged off the mental thought and continued, her features betraying nothing.

"Also, don't be getting worried about your foxy friend being an issue with us, it won't. We all have our own personal demons, yours just being physical in this sense."

Naruto released a breath he hadn't realized he had been keeping in. Still, he warily eyed his new sensei as her features and her mannerism practically screamed out anything _but_ normal. He was nervous about whom the other two would be and if they'd project this kind of questionable appearance as Anko.

Anko interrupted his thoughts as she turned about and said loudly. "That's enough chit-chat for now, now we move!"

Naruto nodded and attempted to catch up with her as she speedily went through the hallways and out the door of the Academy on their way to their next destination.

* * *

In a cavern many miles from Konoha in Amegakure, the projected visuals of many shady charters were the only sight of illumination in the dank, dark, cavern. Those that were physical stood in row with those who were present by projection; all were silent as the one in the center with the peculiar ever-circulating irises was speaking.

"_**We've managed, now to almost have our funds in control to begin our mission to require the nine bijuu. You are all to remain in contact and in constant up speed on your assigned target. You'll be contacted shortly within the months as to when the mission shall begin."**_

The other figures nodded and those that were projected faded out into nothingness, thus ending the meeting. Those who were physically at present in the cavern itself stood from their sitting postures to where they were forming the jutsu to have themselves be included in the meeting. There were five there, all of them donned black cloaks with red clouds and each of them, save one, having an intimidating look about them; some actually looking inhuman.

A woman with a blue tinted paper rose in her hair and a stud pierced underneath her lower lip, turned to leave but was stopped by the voice of one of the other occupants in the cavern.

"Excuse me, Konan-san."

The woman turned her head to her speaker, the man with black hair and large bangs with cold, emotionless eyes, approached her, stopping just three feet from her.

"Yes?" She replied, emotionlessly.

"My target is the Jinjuruki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune in Konohagakure."

Her impassive gaze said nothing but the smallest of twitches told the man to continue.

"And?" She questioned. 

The man matched her look, but there was an undeniable layer of curiosity coming to the surface.

"Although having never met the boy, I'm told that he has a unique ability much like your own over paper and also matches you in hair color." He said.

Konan while showing no emotions on the surface was internally bubbling with a torrent of others underneath.

"And?" She repeated.

The man's gaze upon her would have had even the most tight-lipped man, or woman, breaking down and revealing their deepest sins and regrets. However this didn't work on her and he just uttered one question.

"Do you know him?"

Konan, putting more and more layers upon her internal feelings kept her face blank as a new canvas as she uttered upon turning her back to the man and beginning to walk away.

"No. I don't."

To be continued….

A/N: Hopefully no one will question as to whether or not she had any regrets or has any feelings on the matter when it comes to Naruto as what I wrote has shown. Like I said, this story's about confliction as it'll become pretty clear as to the journey both mother and son take upon realizing about one another, yet never having met, more so for the mother. Again I'd like to apologize for the abrupt poll concerning pairing as it was ill-timed for me to do it when I did. This will not be a Naru/Anko story, just so I'm clear. I have decided on three possible pairings but romance comes second to the emotion that I want this story to project. I'm still in the process of developing Naruto Hideaki's character and Konan's as well. There'll be a lot of back and forth storylines between the two.

Here are the potential pairings:

Naruto x FemHaku

Naruto x Yugito (If this comes to fruition, she'll be his age, if not a little older.)

Naruto X Fu (Same as Yugito)

Q-n-P


End file.
